Alex Beresford (Credit: Twitter @gmb)
TV

GMB’s Alex Beresford reveals family pain at not being able to lay murdered cousin to rest

Nathaniel Armstrong died after being stabbed in chest last month

Good Morning Britain presenter Alex Beresford has spoken about his family’s emotional loss as they grieve for his murdered cousin Nathaniel Armstrong.

Nathaniel, 29, was knifed in the chest in Fulham, West London, in March – and an upcoming documentary will show 38-year-old weather forecaster Alex visit the scene of Nathaniel’s passing for the first time.

Knife Crime And Me airs on ITV tonight and features contributions from Nathaniel’s sister Nadine.

It also shows Alex speaking with young people who carry knives about the rise in violent crime on the streets of the capital.

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Appearing on GMB earlier today, Alex said Nathaniel’s parents and family were having difficulty ‘moving on’ as the funeral has yet to take place.

He explained: “They’re kind of all pulling together, I think the main focus at the moment is trying to get a date for the funeral but as we know in these kinds of circumstances, the bodies don’t get released as quick as you’d like them to.

“So at the moment, no date for the funeral, so whilst he’s just lying there it’s quite hard to move on isn’t it?”

Alex also noted Nathaniel died just yards from where TV presenter Jill Dando was killed on her doorstep in 1999.

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He said: “I speak to his sister Nadine in the documentary about how she’s feeling, and we actually went back to the place, to the road where Nathaniel was killed where actually it’s the same road as Jill Dando.

“For me on camera it was the first time going back to the scene – I didn’t want to go there before – and yes, it was quite hard.”

A few days before Nathaniel’s death Alex made an impassioned speech about knife crime on GMB – and the Bristol-born TV personality admitted he had been floored by the terrible irony.

He said at the time: “You couldn’t make it up.”

Alex continued: “It’s come as a big surprise it happened to Nathaniel because he’s 29, he’s not in a gang, he went to a decent school and a decent university.

“He was a big guy, six foot seven. Maybe on the outside some people would be intimidated by him, but for this to happen to him, everyone was shocked.

“He wasn’t a fighter, he would be able to talk his way out of everything.”

An emotional Alex concluded: “Nobody wins. Everybody loses.”

– Good Morning Britain airs weekdays on ITV from 6am

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Robert Leigh
Freelance writer